Advocacy E-News May 10, 2018

May 10, 2018

 

933,000 ADULTS IN NJ HAVE A MENTAL ILLNESS BUT FEW GET HELP

While grabbing a cup of coffee during New Jersey rush hour, spending 40 hours a week at the office, or enjoying your daughter’s soccer game, you’ve likely interacted with someone who’s dealing with a mental illness. Starting today, New Jersey 101.5 presents a five-day series on mental health in New Jersey and the impact of disorders that affect mood, thinking and behavior.

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FORMER GOV CODEY UNVEILS PLAN TO COMBAT TEEN SUICIDE ‘EPIDEMIC’

Teen suicide is taking more children’s lives than cancer, Democratic Sen. and former Gov. Richard Codey said Wednesday as he unveiled a plan to combat the “growing epidemic” with a $1 million grant. New Jersey must act to prevent teen suicides, which have reached crisis level, Codey said at a news conference at Liberty Middle School in West Orange on Wednesday morning.

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REFORM OF MEDICAID PAYMENTS GETS STATE OVERSIGHT, ONE YEAR LATER

Twelve months after a law was signed requiring supervision of controversial changes in payments to community mental health providers known as Fee for Service, it’s about to happen. State officials will begin to assemble a panel of independent advisers including NAMI New Jersey to oversee the controversial reform of Medicaid payments to community mental health providers, almost exactly a year since a law was signed requiring the creation of such a board.

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TOO MANY DIAGNOSED WITH A MENTAL ILLNESS ARE ENDING UP IN JAIL

A lawmaker from Mercer County believes people with mental illnesses are better off participating in rehab programs than languishing behind bars – and so is the society they live in. The longtime Democratic legislator is sponsoring a comprehensive measure that would divert nonviolent offenders with mental illness away from the state’s criminal justice system and into a program aimed at treating their disorder.

Read the Times of Trenton Editorial